


Not the yesteryear

by issen4



Category: Majo no Jouken
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 11:07:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2810039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/issen4/pseuds/issen4
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A snippet of life between Michi and Hikaru years after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not the yesteryear

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jo_Lasalle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jo_Lasalle/gifts).



It was late when he got back home, and Saki was asleep already in her own bed, clutching her teddy bear to her chest and drooling a bit on her pillow. He pulled up her blanket more securely around her, and padded to the main bedroom, silent as he could, in case Michi had gone to bed early.

Soon after his residency started, they had both by mutual agreement given up the habit of coming to greet each other immediately upon arriving home: his sleep schedules had been utterly thrown off and Michi, too, needed her rest. Even now, after his hours became regular, they followed the same practice. Now, it was a unique comfort to open the door and see her in bed, reading something on her iPad.

"Welcome home," she said. He could see her eyes flicker to the corner of the screen where she noted the time. "You're earlier today. Have you had dinner?" she asked. 

"Yeah."

"Okay." She turned back to her screen. He was close enough to see that she was on a shopping channel, something she only did when there was something on her mind and she wanted to avoid thinking about it. 

"I'll have a shower," he said.

"Mm."

Something occurred to him as he toweled off his hair. Something she had said the other week, when they were in the park with Saki. About some changes among the school staff? Come this April, and she would have been teaching at this school for six years. Her own mother had looked askance at her returning to work after Saki's birth, but Michi was adamant. She enjoyed teaching high school, and anyway, what was there for her to do otherwise, stay at home and organize doctor wives' get-togethers? She wanted no part of that politicking and thanks to his family's influence, she would never need to.

His mother was the one who enjoyed all of that, and he didn't doubt that part of Michi's reluctance to be involved in the hospital was related to her wish to avoid her mother-in-law. Something _his_ mother-in-law never stopped berating Michi for. Ah, he recalled it now.

Re-entering the bedroom, he found that Michi was still on the iPad. "The promotion," he said, coming around and getting into bed, drawing up close beside her. "You didn't get it," he guessed. That would account for her pensiveness, he thought.

"No. They gave it to Takeuchi," she said. She switched off the iPad and leant back, glancing at him.

He knew of this Takeuchi, and even met him once, briefly. Four years younger than Michi, initially inexperienced at teaching high school, judging by the way Michi took on an impromptu role as mentor to him when he first joined the school two years ago. Not a bad person; affable, and he had been able, better than most, to hide his surprised realization at Hikaru being introduced as Michi's husband. 

"This isn't the first time," he said.

"The last time it was Jun-chan," she said of another ex-colleague who was the previous department head. "But Jun-chan was from Tokyo University, and I can see why the school preferred her over me, even though she had less experience."

"But she left teaching after getting married anyway."

She leaned against him and he could smell the shampoo from her hair. "Yup," she said, in an attempt to sound uncaring. "And now Takeuchi. I think I've got to accept that I'll never get promoted," she said, moroseness covering annoyance.

"Do you want to?" he asked, holding her closer.

She wriggled a little. "Maybe?" She gave him a pinch on the leg. "No, of course! I've worked hard for the school. I'm as good a teacher, if not better, than Takeuchi and Jun-chan, and I'm a much better organizer and manager than Takeuchi. But I know they're still thinking of before."

"Oh." He knew that, too. "It was a long time ago."

"I did nearly get jailed for corrupting a minor," she said, mock-bravado in her voice. "They are too afraid of what the parents would say if they make me a department head."

He pulled the blanket over both of them, and took her hands, warming her fingers between his own. The police had finally dropped the charges after giving her a warning – it was one of the very few times that he was grateful for his family's influence and his mother's ability to use that clout. But the news, however dampened, had still made the rounds eventually and she had gained no little attention. 

She went on, "If too many parents protest, they'd have to retract the promotion, and they would lose face."

The past came in a fleeting series of images: the commotion over his and Michi's relationship; Michi, in a coma; Michi, finally waking up. It seemed like a dream now: nothing except Michi's smile from that moment stayed with him. But he guessed that the ramifications would never wear entirely wear off. 

"That's unfair to you, though." 

Conversely, he had escaped most of the fallout from their elopement by virtue of being seen as the victim -- by being young, by being male, by being the scion of the powerful Kurosawa group. If there were any reference to his and Michi's relationship in the hospital, it was frequently given a positive spin with strangers congratulating him on settling down with a family at such a young age. His own family name had protected him from a lot. There was no such advantage for Michi.

"No kidding," she retorted. She was good at her job, and paradoxically, her notoriety made her unafraid to confront what many others would have preferred to leave unsaid. She was the one who had insisted on an official enquiry after the bullying scandal last year. That resultant mess had resulted in two students getting expelled. That had certainly, he judged, set more backs up in the school committee. "Maybe I should quit."

It was not the first time she had made such a threat. "Really?"

"Why not? Saki will be starting school next year-" a very exclusive, private school where no one would ever dare to whisper about their scandal (or that of any other parents') "-and I could drive her to school and to ballet classes. Play with her. Cook for her. Be the doting and dutiful mother." 

He was surprised into a chuckle. "I can't imagine you being like all the other mothers." Even his mother had not coddled him in such a way. Even as a child, a driver had brought him to school and back, and a housekeeper took care of all his meals. He had English classes and music classes with tutors that came to his home. It was a far more distant upbringing than he would want for Saki, but he couldn't imagine his daughter wanting her mother tailing her at all hours, either. She was an independent little spirit, which he took pride in and he knew that Michi was even more delighted than him about that. "You'll be driven to drink before long," he half-joked. He had seen a kindred spirit in her that first time, knowing that she could never be truly contented with convention.

She gave a long sigh, sinking even more deeply against him. "Or change schools. Some place where they won't care that I fell in love with my own student once."

"…once?"

"And I'm still in love with him, so there." It came out belligerent, but she stifled a yawn at the end.

He held her until she fell asleep.

/end


End file.
